The suspected shooter of two National Guard members in Washington, DC, on Wednesday served with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency has confirmed.
The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to the US in September 2021 under the Operation Ally’s Welcome program, which granted entry visas to the US to some Afghans working for the US government. According to Reuters report, he was granted asylum in April this year under the Trump administration.
Lacanwal’s ties to the Central Intelligence Agency, which worked with US special forces in Afghanistan, were confirmed to media outlets by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
The New York Times reported that the suspect in the shootings had worked for several US government agencies in Afghanistan, including CIA-backed units in the southern province of Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold.
The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, said the CIA-backed units included counterterrorism squads known as “Zero Units”, which engaged in combat operations to capture or kill suspected terrorists.
“The Biden administration justified bringing the alleged shooter to the United States in September 2021 because of his prior work with the U.S. government, including the CIA,” Ratcliffe told Fox News Digital. He said Lacanwal’s involvement with the agency was “as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, which ended shortly after the chaotic evacuation”.
The two injured Guard members have been named as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24. Both are members of the West Virginia National Guard and are listed in critical condition.
Both of them had been sworn into service less than 24 hours before they were ambushed by the suspect at a bus stop.
Beckstrom’s father told The New York Times by phone that his daughter was unlikely to recover. “I’m holding his hand right now,” Gary Beckstrom said. “He has a mortal wound. It’s not going to heal.”
A man who arrived at Wolfe’s family home told a reporter at the outlet: “Right now we just need prayers for my son.”
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, DC, said at a news conference Thursday that the suspect had used a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver to shoot one guard member twice and then open fire on another.
He said the two injured National Guardsmen “put their lives on the line to protect people they didn’t even know”.
He said other National Guard members at the scene killed the suspect.
The suspect has been arrested and is being treated in hospital.
Pirro said he drove across the United States from his home in Bellingham, Washington, planning what he called a “brazen and targeted” attack.
The prosecutor said Lacanwal will be charged with three counts of assault while armed with intent to kill and three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. Pirro said if the National Guard member does not survive, the charges could be upgraded to murder in the first degree.
FBI Director Kash Patel said at a news conference that the agency was investigating the shooting as an act of terrorism. Law enforcement agencies executed search warrants at the suspect’s home in Washington and San Diego, California.
“This is a coast-to-coast investigation,” Patel said.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has criticized the Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to the district, said: “These young people should be at home in West Virginia with their families.”
Patel also confirmed the suspect’s ties to US forces in Afghanistan. He said the investigation would also include any known associates of the suspect abroad and in the US.
Patel said the suspect was in the US “for one reason and one reason only – because of the disastrous withdrawal (from Afghanistan) by the Biden administration and the failure to investigate this individual and countless others.”
However, while administration officials have accused Biden of a lack of investigation, Reuters reported that the alleged gunman was granted asylum this year under the Trump administration.
After the shooting, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it had stopped processing residency applications from Afghan citizens.
“With immediate effect, processing of all immigration requests involving Afghan nationals has been halted indefinitely pending further review of security and screening protocols,” the agency said on social media.
Following the shooting, Donald Trump ordered 500 additional National Guard troops to be sent to Washington. The president described the shootings as a “terrorist act” and described immigration as “the greatest national security threat facing our country.”
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